The Rise and Fall of El Chapo

- This guy's a stone-cold killer.

- He makes Pablo Escobar look like a choir boy in comparison.

male narrator: He's been called "The Last Godfather."

- He's the world's most powerful and vicious narco-trafficker.

narrator: Billionaire. Drug lord.

Master of escape.

He is like a cat.

He has many lives.

narrator: From the mountains of Mexico

to cities all across the U.S.--

This is the amazing story

of the world's most notorious narco,

called by many "public enemy number one."

Joaquin Guzman Loera.

"El Chapo."

If you've ever smoked a joint,

if you've ever had anyone offer you drugs at a party,

odds are you're more connected to El Chapo

than you ever realized.

¶ ¶

From small-town America to the major urban centers,

Chapo's Sinaloa cartel distributes most of the drugs

brought into the United States.

- He is probably responsible for 70% to 80%

of all the illegal drugs that we see,

certainly in the Midwest, and around the country.

¶ ¶

narrator: But after four decades in the business,

El Chapo's more than just a drug smuggler.

He is a folk hero.

He's created this mystique

that people are just mesmerized with.

- Chapo Guzman is like a major criminal CEO.

On one side he's like a paramilitary leader,

and on the other he becomes like a rock star.

- Here's a man who's worth over $1 billion.

He's got a beauty-queen wife

who's 32 years younger than he is.

- Women get the likeness of El Chapo Guzman

painted on their nails.

Young men get tattoos of El Chapo Guzman.

- Sometimes it can be hard to see where the reality starts

and the myth stops.

We're never gonna know exactly how many people

were killed in his name,

but his legend has grown and surpassed

that of all the other traffickers.

narrator: So how did a poor fruit seller

with a third-grade education

become a legend?

¶ ¶

For many Americans,

his story starts with a vanishing act.

July 2015.

Altiplano.

Mexico's supermax prison.

- It's the most maximum-secure penitentiary in Mexico.

narrator: It's just before 9:00 p.m.,

and Joaquin Guzman Loera, El Chapo,

paces under the surveillance cameras in his cell.

- Chapo Guzman was the highest-risk prisoner

that they had there.

narrator: The TV blares.

The prison guards seem distracted.

And suddenly, he's gone.

¶ ¶

25 minutes later,

guards find an empty cell.

narrator: All that's left is a hole.

20 inches square.

Some 30 feet below,

a modified motorcycle on rails

awaits as a getaway

through a tunnel almost one mile long.

- He's been called the most dangerous

cartel leader in the world,

and he just staged a spectacular escape from prison.

- This is the first time I've heard in modern day

that somebody literally tunneled

through dirt to escape from prison.

- What's most impressive is how well this tunnel is built.

There are steel beams.

There's wood. Electricity.

This is a generator to run all the lights, we're told.

narrator: As for Chapo,

he's long gone.

¶ ¶

Mexico is stunned.

It's the most brazen prison break in the country's history,

embarrassing a police force,

a government,

an entire nation.

It's extremely frustrating.

You know, this is a blow to the good guys

on both sides of the border.

- The Mexican government seemed incapable of keeping

the most high-profile criminal

in the nation behind bars.

That really shook the government.

¶ ¶

narrator: Soon, ballads about El Chapo

hit the airwaves,

from Mexico to the U.S.

¶ ¶

narrator: And a national figure becomes an international icon

as the legend of the narco Houdini

explodes into the media worldwide.

- He's able to escape some of the most seriously hardened

prisons in Mexico in these miraculous escapes.

That is something mythical.

all: Chapo! Chapo!

narrator: From Sonora to Southern California,

El Chapo's brand goes global

and businesses cash in.

This one, this model here,

is the one that is most popular.

It's selling a lot. A lot.

narrator: On July 12th, 2015,

a search begins.

An international manhunt

led by Mexican, U.S., even Colombian forces.

- As a former U.S. Drug Enforcement official

put it bluntly today,

"If Guzman isn't caught within 48 hours,

we may never find him again."

female reporter: Flights have been suspended

at local airports about 50 miles west of Mexico City.

- The U.S. Government will act swiftly.

- The guy needs to be behind bars.

narrator: Suspects in Chapo's escape

are rounded up and pressed for intel.

narrator: With a $5 million reward,

Chapo sightings run wild.

Chapo was like Elvis.

People were seeing him everywhere.

narrator: A multi-national team of law enforcement officials

works to track him down.

Within three weeks,

the Mexican marines

were listening to his communications.

- The Mexican government started to do wire intercepts

on his attorneys, on family members,

getting bits and pieces of information.

narrator: That information leads them to one region:

El Chapo's Mexican homeland,

the so-called "Golden Triangle"

in the mountains of Sinaloa.

¶ ¶

- He was up in that mountainous region,

which is highly rugged.

If you don't want to be found,

you're never gonna be found.

narrator: For nearly three months,

thousands of law enforcement officials worldwide

try to catch El Chapo Guzman

with no luck.

But then, the 61-year-old fugitive kingpin slips up.

- Chapo made the ultimate mistake.

He wanted to meet with Kate del Castillo,

who played a female drug lord in "La Reina Del Sur,"

"The Queen of the South,"

and he was enamored with her.

The big weakness of Chapo Guzman

are beautiful women.

narrator: In October 2015,

El Chapo invites del Castillo

and actor Sean Penn

to a secret meeting at a Sinaloa ranch,

and leaked pictures will soon cause a social media frenzy.

He agreed to meet with them

in order to create a movie about his life.

He became very much interested in growing his legend.

narrator: Photos obtained by "Rolling Stone"

show the actors meeting with the fugitive drug lord.

For the first time,

Chapo grants an exclusive on-camera interview,

later released by "Rolling Stone" magazine.

narrator: Meanwhile, the authorities on both sides

of the border are listening in.

- When Chapo Guzman gave a Blackberry cell phone

to Kate del Castillo,

the tracking really started.

- The Mexican marines were getting closer and closer

all the time by monitoring, by eavesdropping

and triangulating signals and communications.

Well, if I was Chapo,

I'd be lookin' over my shoulder,

because we're comin'.

¶ ¶

narrator: Then, less than a week

after the meeting with del Castillo and Penn,

Mexican forces make their move.

Following intercepted cell phone signals,

they track El Chapo into the heart of the Golden Triangle.